Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 130

Out of the Depths

Heading
A song of the ascents.

Out of the Depths

¹³ Many people gathered in Jerusalem to keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month—a very great assembly.

¹⁴ They quickly removed the altars from Jerusalem. They took away all the altars for burning incense and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

¹⁵ They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites had been put to shame, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the House of the Lord. ¹⁶ They took up their positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The priests splashed the blood, which was given to them by the Levites, against the altar. ¹⁷ Because many of the assembly had not consecrated themselves,^[a] the Levites carried out the slaughtering of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not ceremonially clean, to make them holy to the Lord.

¹⁸ A large number of the people, many of whom were from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, but they ate the Passover anyway, in a manner not in keeping with what is written. So Hezekiah prayed for them: “May the good Lord pardon everyone all around, ¹⁹ that is, everyone who seeks God the Lord, the God of his fathers, with all his heart, even though he does not have the ceremonial purity required by the holy place.”

²⁰ The Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

²¹ The people of Israel who were present in Jerusalem observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing. The Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day with loud instruments for the Lord.

²² Hezekiah encouraged the hearts of all the Levites, who displayed wonderful skills in service of the Lord. They ate the food of the festival for the appointed seven days, presenting fellowship sacrifices and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.

²³ The entire assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days. They gladly did it for another seven days, ²⁴ because Hezekiah king of Judah provided one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the assembly, and the officials contributed one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep for the assembly. The priests consecrated themselves in great number.

²⁵ The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced together with the priests, the Levites, the entire assembly from Israel, the aliens who resided in the land of Israel, and the people who lived in Judah. ²⁶ There was great joy in Jerusalem, because since the time of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.

²⁷ Then the levitical priests arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard. Their prayer ascended to the Lord’s holy dwelling in heaven.

Jesus Forgives Sins

2 When Jesus again entered Capernaum some days later, people heard that he was home. ² So many people were gathered together that there was no more room, not even by the door, and he was speaking the word to them. ³ Some people came to him bringing a paralyzed man, carried by four men. ⁴ Since they could not bring the man to Jesus because of the crowd, they dug through the roof above where he was. When they had made an opening, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralyzed man was lying. ⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

⁶ But there were some experts in the law sitting there and thinking in their hearts, ⁷ “Why does this fellow speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?”

⁸ Jesus immediately knew in his spirit that they were thinking this way within themselves. He asked them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier: to tell the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your stretcher, and walk’? ¹⁰ But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralyzed man, ¹¹ “I tell you, get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

¹² At once the man got up, picked up the stretcher, and went out in front of everyone. So they were all amazed and glorified God. They said, “We have never seen anything like this!”